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The Oasis Academy softball team scored two upsets in the 1A Northern regional tournament at Smith Valley to return to the state tournament after falling short last spring.
The Bighorns, after falling to No. 1 Coleville, 6-2, in Friday's opener, beat Pyramid Lake, 15-5, later in the afternoon. They proceeded to take down No. 3 Smith Valley, 9-7, on Saturday to punch their ticket to state. Coleville won the title, 17-1.
Oasis Academy, the North's No. 2 seed, will face No. 1 Pahranagat Valley on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Bishop Gorman. The championship semifinal and two consolation games are Friday at College of Southern Nevada. The 1A championship and “if” game are Saturday at 10 a.m. at Bishop Gorman.
In the state-qualifying win over the host, Smith Valley, Oasis Academy built multiple leads of 3-0 and 5-3 before the Bulldogs came back to tie the game on both occasions.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning that Oasis Academy took the lead for good.
After Dahlila Creer walked on four pitches and advanced to third on Taylynn Maynez’s single, she stole home on a pickoff attempt at first with Grace Laca at the plate. Laca singled and then scored on Kayin Guthrie’s two-out double to right.
Stacy Bogdanowicz homered to lead off the sixth inning and Lorena Rios stole home to give the Bighorns a 9-5 lead.
The Bulldogs scored twice in the bottom of the inning and threatened in the seventh. Rios threw out a runner at third and Kirsten Detomosi struck out the next two to end the game.
After falling to the Lakers twice during the regular season, Oasis Academy made sure it wouldn’t happen again.
The Lady Bighorns built a 12-1 lead after the second inning before ending the game when it scored three in the fifth.
Detomasi pitched Oasis Academy to the win, striking out eight in five innings.
After not scoring in the first inning, Madi Darst hit a bases-loaded single to right field to score two before Eneyde Rios’ single scored Lorena Rios. Maynez singled in one, Laca followed with a two-run single and Guthrie’s RBI groundout scored Maynez for the team’s seventh run of the game.
After a 1-2-3 inning from Detomasi in the third, Oasis Academy added five more runs beginning with Maynez, Laca, Guthrie and Detomasi drawing bases-loaded walks. Bogandowicz’s RBI groundout gave the team a 12-0 lead.